Simian line: one line across your palm

Is a simian line normal? The medical facts first

Usually, yes. Doctors call this line a single palmar crease. An older name is the simian crease, and it is also called a transverse palmar crease. We use “single palmar crease”, the name MedlinePlus uses, because “simian” means ape-like.

MedlinePlus, the medical encyclopedia of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, says: “A single palmar crease appears in about 1 out of 30 people. Males are twice as likely as females to have this condition.” It also says: “Having a single palmar crease is often normal.” Nicklaus Children’s Hospital puts it this way: “In most cases, it is completely normal and is not related to a medical condition.”

On its own, a single palmar crease is not a diagnosis. It can be one of several features doctors note in some conditions, Down syndrome among them. But doctors look at it only together with many other signs. A crease by itself does not show that anyone has any condition.

If you have any worry, about a baby, a child or yourself, see a doctor. A doctor can look at the whole picture. Palmistry can’t, and neither can PalmSays: a palm-reading app is not a health check.

What does a simian line look like?

A simian line is one straight line that runs right across the palm, from the little-finger edge to the thumb side. Most palms have two long lines there: the heart line on top, and the head line below it (see all the lines on your palm). A palm with a simian line has one line in place of both.

It is easy to mix up with other shapes:

• Heart and head lines that touch. The two lines come close, meet or join for a short stretch, then run on separately. You can still see two lines, so this is not a simian line.
• A head line that rises towards the heart line. Cheiro treats this as a separate form, and warns his readers not to confuse it with one clear line across the hand.
• Two lines where the head line should be. That is a different form again, the double head line.

To check your own palm, open your hand flat in good, even light. Follow the top long line from the little-finger edge. If it runs all the way across, and you can’t find a second long line above or below it, that is a simian line. If you see two lines, even two that touch, it isn’t.

Simian line on one hand or both hands

A simian line can be on one hand or on both. We have found no reliable figure for how often each happens, so we don’t give one.

In palmistry tradition, the hand matters in the usual way. Your writing hand is read as the life you are making, and the other hand as what you started with; which hand to read explains why. So if you are right-handed and the line is only on your right hand, tradition reads it as part of the life you have built. On your other hand, it is read as something you started with.

The books we use give no separate reading for a simian line on both hands, so we don’t invent one. On one hand or both, the medical facts above stay the same.

What do palmistry books say about the simian line?

Palmistry books read it as a sign of intensity, and they disagree on how to class it.

Cheiro (Palmistry for All, 1916) describes “one clear line running across the hand” as a sign of “tremendous intensity of character”. He reads great power of concentration, with head and heart joined: what such a person sets their mind on, their feelings follow, and the other way round. He also says where the line sits matters. Where the head line usually runs, he reads more mind than heart; higher up, nearer the fingers, more feeling.

William G. Benham (The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading, 1900) sees it differently. When one line sits where the head line should be, he classes it as a head line, and counts the heart line as missing. Only if the line runs high, just under the finger mounts, does he treat it as a heart line.

So one book reads heart and head joined, and the other reads a head line on its own. We show both, because the books disagree and there is no way to test which is right.

The harsh old readings are left out. Some of these books add gloomy judgements about people with this line: loneliness, failure, or worse. They are opinions about people, not facts, and nothing supports them. We don’t repeat them.

Is a simian line lucky?

It is not a sign of good or bad luck. None of the readings we keep is about luck: Cheiro’s is about intensity and concentration. Your choices shape your life far more than any crease in your palm.

Does PalmSays read the simian line?

No. The PalmSays app has no rule for the simian line, and it doesn’t read it. Its reports cover the lines it has rules for, such as the heart, head, life and fate lines. Any line the app can’t see clearly is marked as not clearly seen, instead of being guessed. This page exists so that you have the facts, and the old books’ view, in one calm place.

MythA simian line means something is wrong with you.

Reality

Usually it means nothing of the kind. It is often a normal variation of the hand, and on its own it is not a diagnosis. For any worry, see a doctor.

MythA simian line means a lonely or unsuccessful life.

Reality

That idea comes from gloomy old readings, and nothing supports it. The one reading we keep, Cheiro’s, is about intensity and concentration. No line decides how your life goes.